Graham Young finds himself enjoying Colin Farrell's latest film outing - even if he's an actor whose leading man potential has yet to be truly fulfilled

Dead Man Down (15)

Graham Young-WO

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Colin Farrell and Noomi Rapace in Dead Man Down

It hasn’t been the best year for thrillers so far – and the fact that this one has been sandwiched in between Iron Man 3 and next week’s return of Star Trek should give you an idea in advance it won’t be a classic.

But there are three reasons to check it out for yourself.

1. It’s the irresistible Hollywood directing debut of Niels Arden Oplev, who made the compelling, original version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

2. He’s brought actress Noomi Rapace with him, and

3. What can he do with the enigma known as Colin Farrell?

Will this heady, violent mix set in New York finally bring out the best in a star who showed us so much promise in the same city with Phone Booth exactly 10 years ago?

Answer: when Farrell has the stubbled menace of Roy Keane, he’s terrific.

But there are times when his baby face resembles the younger hot-headed grease monkey Kevin Webster in Corrie. Oh dear...

So Farrell remains an actor whose leading man potential has yet to be truly fulfilled, while another problem is the messy nature of the set up.

Having Albanians in New York isn’t as sexy as Italian gangsters and, like the North Koreans in Red Dawn, G.I. Joe and Olympus Has Fallen, their presence smacks more of scriptwriter convenience than intellect.

The criminal underworld of gangland boss Alphonse (Terrence Howard) has been infiltrated by Farrell’s revenge-seeking character Victor.

He, in turn, is watched by the damaged Beatrice (Rapace) from a neighbouring block.

She has an ace up her sleeve which might just mean that young Vic is about to get a new kind of boss.

Dead Man Down feels like it wants to have the weight of Martin Scorsese’s The Departed (or rather the Hong Kong original he remodelled, Infernal Affairs).

Instead, it ends up more like Russell Crowe’s Broken City from earlier this year – muddled by its own script and who’s-shooting-at-who gunfights. Farrell worked with the great Forest Whitaker on Phone Booth and it’s a shame that Terrence Howard doesn’t get more to do here.

He’s a fine actor, but his character feels slightly too “clean” compared with those around him. Dominic Cooper’s role as Darcy is equally underwritten.

In a bid to humanise Beatrice, we spend too much time with her deaf mother in a film which has an 118-minute running time.

As with The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Oplev uses darkness to convey atmosphere despite the overt crispness of the movie’s digital look. Some old-fashioned celluloid grain would have done it the world of good.